


The Phantom Nightmaren

by ChaiDreamLatte



Category: NiGHTS into Dreams
Genre: Conventions, F/M, Female Friendship, Female Protagonist, Harassment, Other, Romance, YouTube
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-06
Updated: 2015-06-07
Packaged: 2018-03-21 12:13:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3691857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaiDreamLatte/pseuds/ChaiDreamLatte
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Helen grew up to be a dub step violinist on YouTube.  Her secret is receiving lessons from a mysterious caped nightmaren.  When Helen is about to go to VidCon, she receives a proposal from Jackle, which she rejects.  Jackle isn't going to be friend zoned that easily, for he has already preregistered for VidCon himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There will be an updated chapter every week!

The Phantom Nightmaren

Chapter 1

Chai Dream Latte

“There will always be nightmares in human’s hearts.”

Those words resided in Helen Cartwright through her teenagehood and recent adulthood.  It has helped Helen a lot, even if it came from the Nightmare King.

Helen rushed to the Bellbridge Clock Tower in her full makeup and dress.  It wasn’t a pink dress, like the last time she played there. It was a brown Victorian dress that cut off at the knees, and was low cut to show her awesome bust.  She also worse a top hat, and had goggles on her eyes. She laid down her violin case to take the instrument out.  Helen stopped at the top of the stairs.  She left the case on the ground and stood up a few CDs.  She began to play.

A few people looked at her for a few seconds, but she didn’t get any tips.  It wasn’t expected for Helen to get tips from her fellow Bellbridgers, for she will be getting a lot more for what was coming up next.  The device in Helen’s ear spoke, “ready?”

“Ready.”  

Fireworks shot out from the steps, and the crowd looked at Helen.  Then the hidden stereos started playing dubstep.  Helen started to play an excited jaunt of a song, sounding almost mechanical, but exciting.  People dressed as clockwork robots began to surround her as they danced along with Helen’s song. Helen began to dance smoothly along with her violin.  The type of dance Helen learned from a great teacher, and has been well known for mastering.

Every single person in that radius was watching the marvel of Helen Cartwright.  They all stood still to see what was going on.  

One of the robots looked at Helen, and then began to dance with her.  They both did a jig together, then the robot did a flip above Helen.  Everyone gasped.

Helen then played another note, then all the fireworks shot out in sync with her playing.  She sun around then jumped a few steps of the stairs.  She kneeled down and played the last note.  She kept her eye contact with a redheaded woman with a camera and smiled.

There were people who put money in her violin case in exchange for her CDs.  Some people didn’t have money, so they took business cards so they can buy CDs online.  This was all good, because Helen makes the most money selling CDs.  Yet there will be more people buying Helen’s stuff in the near future.

The redheaded woman put her camera in her bag and ran over to Helen, “oh my gosh, that was amazeballs!”  She passed Helen, then grabbed another camera from a railing, then another camera behind Helen.  “YouTube is going to love this!”

“I hope so, Lucy!  I’m sure my subscribers will see it for sure, but I don’t know if we’ll get anyone new from this.”

“Oh, I got Claris Sinclair to link it on her Twitter already; views will go up from there!”

Claris Sinclair was a famous composer of a famous trilogy of gothic musicals.  Helen has heard about the Indigogo about her musical movie based on her most successful one about a highly technological and utopian Hell.  She’s been getting so much money for this movie, that she’s running out of ways to spend it.  Claris already got the inheritor of the Hilton hotel chain: Athens Hilton to play the Devil’s daughter, what more can there be?

A man in a football jersey approached Helen.  He looked kind of familiar.  He put 50 note and a 10 note in the violin case, “can I have six?”

Helen perked up, “Six?  As in half a dozen?  What do you need them for?”

“Some of the members of my team in Wimbledon love you, and I thought it would be nice to give them your CDs.”

“Oh!” Lucy exclaimed, “you guys just made it to FIFA last season! Elliot Edwards has been working hard to move you guys up to this point!”

“Well, that was the publicity, but it was mostly our skills that got us there,” the man blushed, “Helen, do you remember me?”

Helen took a good look at the man.  She knew a football player… but it couldn’t have been him.  She didn’t even think he existed since humans can’t share the same dream, “Will? You actually exist?”

“How am I supposed to answer that?” the man scratched his head, “do I live in a plane on nonexistence?”

“Do jesters live in a plan of nonexistence?” Helen replied.

“Technically no,” Will answered, “but I get that you’re baffled to see me in this plane of existence.  I was baffled to see you dressed like a Dragonborn on YouTube.”

Helen took out her cellphone, “what’s your number?”

Will gave the number to Helen, then Helen called the number.  Will declined the call, but added the number to his contacts.  

“Just don’t call me next week,” Helen mentioned, “I’m going to the States to a convention.”

“Oh, me too, is it VidCon by any chance?”

Helen giggled, “I guess it is.  I am a YouTube sensation after all.”

“Just like Elliot! I could get you guys to meet and make you become a Nerdfighter.”

“I don’t think I get rid of enough World Suck for that.  I just make music.”

***

Helen had a lot of World Suck when she was seventeen.  She was starting her first year at conservatory, and doing very well.  That was when the car accident happened.  The two people who were in that car were Helen’s mom and dad.  Helen couldn’t keep the mansion her parents had since she couldn’t find a job that could help her afford it.  So she had to sell the mansion.  She lived with her aunt while she continued to study music, until her aunt lost her job and couldn’t support Helen.  So Helen had to quit conservatory, get a full time job at a music store that sold vinyls, cassette tapes, and equipment and music for techno music.  Techno wasn’t Helen’s jam per say, but she had to learn about it to keep the job.  Helen had to thank her best friend Natalie for the job in the first place.

Helen had been seeing NiGHTS less and less.  It was more Nightmaren from there.  Yet she has done what most visitors couldn’t do: fight them off.  

Helen had been more lucid, and was able to summon her violin that fought the nightmaren off.  She dances her way towards the nightmare, and they fled away.  

One night, there was a creature that took notice.

“Well, well, aren’t you a special Visitor?” It was a booming voice in the Dreamgate.  

“NiGHTS? Is that you?” Helen asked.

“No, you can call me an angel of some sort.”

Helen raised an eyebrow, was this some sort of octopus that farts out rings? “I’d like a name.”

“Call me Jackle.  I can teach you how to be better with a violin.”

Well, conservatory was out of the picture.  Might as well learn from a dream, what is there to lose? “Sounds good, what do you want out of this?”

“Nothing.  Just your devotion,” said the voice.

***

Not only has Helen learned a lot from this, “Jackle,” but they talked about her life, and figured out a few things.  Helen had always moved around as they played violin, so Jackle taught her how to dance with it.  Helen knows a lot about classical and techno, so Jackle said to mix the two.  Helen liked video games and movies, so Jackle said to make music from those mediums.  

Natalie has been a lot of help as well, as well as her second best friend: Lucy.  Natalie composed the techno portion of the songs, while Helen composed the classical portions.  Lucy directed, shot, and edited the performances to put up on YouTube. Lucy does the the social networking as well.  Helen had gone viral, and makes a fair amount of money from advertising, Parton, and CDs.  Sure, Helen still worked with Natalie at the store, but it wasn’t full time anymore.  Helen had multiple panels at VidCon this year, including a concert of her music.

This was awesome! And Helen had to thank a dream creature for helping her.  For sure, it was NiGHTS saying she was someone else, but it was still kind of her to help her through a hard time.  

***

A Nightmare or a Dream?

An Angel is what it seems.

Returning my gift of music.

To its previous state.

He just needs my devotion.

I don’t know of it’s notions,

But it something that I can do to get things straight.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, Jackle asked Helen to marry her, and she responded with a rejection, so that's a thing. Helen has no time for proposals, she has to fly to Anaheim to get to VidCon!

The Phantom Nightmaren

Chapter 2

Helen was in her bed playing with her phone.  She was checking through Twitter, looking at what her other YouTubing friends are up to.  Most of them were getting ready to go to Anaheim California for Vidcon, while other were complaining that they didn’t get to go to Vidcon for the year.  One thing to understand that Vidcon is THE event for Youtubers, it’s an opportunity to meet many fans and other Youtubers.  The phone Helen was holding suddenly slipped onto her face.  Guess it’s time to go to bed.

***

Helen hadn’t had a coherent dream in a while.  Helen had a lot of Nightmaren to thank for her success, but she hadn’t met any as of recent.  That time, she was in a room of mirrors.

“My lady, it is time for your full devotion.”

The mirrors shattered and there was Jackle who took out his hand, “come, we have a lot of discuss.”

Helen didn’t really question it, since she knew she could trust a Nightmaren like Jackle.  She took Jackle’s hand.

Jackle went flying.  They flew at high speeds across a dark river, all the way to an island.  On the island there was a cave where they flew inside to find a high tech area light with many candles. On the center of the area was an organ.

Helen had never seen this area before.  She had seen the more playroom like space, but never there.  This space reminded Helen of the Batcave of a Batman musical.  

Helen looked around the area.  It seemed like a place where one would live.  It had a bed, a kitchen, a few couches. Jackle followed Helen, “do you approve?”

Helen turned back to Jackle, “it’s a pretty cool.  Is this where you live?”

“It’s where I will live.” Jackle explained, “Once we’re married.”

Helen looked at Jackle, looked away, then looked at Jackle again.  Married? Like being together for eternity kind of thing?  How the bloody hell would that work?  Helen only sees Jackle every so often when she sleeps.  Even then, Helen doesn’t really get that much sleep since she’s composing and practicing for her videos and albums.  Also, there was Will!  Helen really liked Will when she saw him in her dreams, and now she knows that he exists; she would like to date him.  This would totally botch up any plans of dating the boy of her literal dreams.  “What do you mean married?”

“Oh, when I said that I would teach you the ways of the music, that you will have your full devotion to me.  What else would you think that would mean?”

Helen opened her mouth, and then she closed it, “I don’t know that I would have your undivided attention?  That I would have no other teachers? It seemed like a good deal since I couldn’t afford lessons, and I wasn’t skilled enough for any of mum’s connections.”

“Oh.  Well, you still owe me for your current success! You’re going to marry me!”

This was when Helen went into feminist mode, “I don’t owe you anything!  Just because you gave me lessons, and was open ended about my end of the deal, doesn’t mean that I have to be your bride!  You are a jerk to even think that you can marry a girl that easily!”

“Fine, if you’re going to play ‘hard to get,’ I’ll play, ‘hard to let go.’  I’ll see you at VidCon then.”

Helen woke up from her sleep.  That was very weird.  Not what Helen excepted at all. Helen went to the kitchen for water, and then went back to bed.  Helen was not ready for this stuff.

***

Helen woke up early, then took a shuttle to the airport.  Helen checked her baggage, only bringing a purse and her violin with her.  Security will probably think that there’s a gun in there again, that’s for sure.  

Helen waiting in line at security when she felt a tap on her shoulder, Helen freaked the hell out, “Leave me alone Jackle!”

“Who’s Jackle?” The young man asked.  It was Will.  It was logical that Helen would meet Will at the airport.  He did mention that he would go to VidCon as well.  They do both live in Bellbridge after all. Lucy was already in Anaheim helping with the set up.  Natalie was going to take a later plane.  

The three were sharing a hotel room, but they were doing different things.  Helen had a lot of panels to host, like one on performing music on Youtube, and a concert at midnight.  Natalie was going to talk to a few producers about Helen’s albums, and see about a record deal.  Lucy was hosting some editing and camera work panels.  The three had it divided up that they would take over the Helen Cartwright booth throughout the convention when no one had anything important planned.  

“So we’re in the same plane?” Helen asked, “That’s an awfully convenient quinkydink!”

“Isn’t it?” Will laughed, “It’s enough of one that we were both going to Vidcon, but now this?”

They two went through security with no issues.  Helen and Will grabbed breakfast sandwiches from a McDonalds at the terminal, and ate them until they boarded.  Although the coincidence didn’t end there.

They were sitting next to each other on the plane, looked like they’ll be together for many hours.  

Will began to ask about Helen’s life, “So I you probably don’t make a living doing these YouTube videos and making albums, what else do you do?”

“Oh, I work at a used vinyl shop downtown.  That’s how I began having interest in electronic music.  It’s very different from my original genre, classical, which is why they mix very well.”

“But you also do music from video games.  Like the one from Skyrim.”

“The Elder Scrolls always had an old timey feel to it.” Helen observed, “Yet people have asked me to do Fallout, but it’s more of a jazzy game. I’d need to take the time to study the genre.”

Will laughed, “I guess so!  I bet you wouldn’t do Parappa the Rapper either.”

Helen thought for a moment, “A music game would be a good one to do, since music and all.  Yet if I would do one, I’d be Space Channel 5.”

“You’d look good in a Ulala Cosplay,” Will complimented.

“Ever seen Claris Sinclair’s cosplay of Ulala way back? This was way back in 2002 when she was in college.  Someone found the picture recently and posted it on Twitter.  Claris said that Ulala was kind of an influence on her as well as a friend of hers from high school.”

“Must have been a very special lady,” Will noted.

“Actually, Claris never specified a gender.  Someone asked about them once in an AMA asking if she was a special girlfriend of hers.  Claris said that she didn’t know this person’s real gender, and hasn’t seen them recently because they live really far away.”

“Maybe they’re genderfluid?” Will asked, “Elliot told me about a friend he had that was what gender they felt like being at the time.  Elliot says that gender is a state of mind, and there are much more than just two of them.”

Helen giggled, “You know, I never knew the gender of NiGHTS.  I thought it was just rude to ask, since it’s always a touchy subject.  Maybe NiGHTS is one of the genders that weren’t male or female.”

“No, I’m pretty sure NiGHTS is male.” Will said, “he just had a touch of femininity.”

“Oh, so he is male?” Helen looked up, “you think he’s gay?”

“Do Nightmaren even have attraction to others?” Will asked, “I mean, I guess there’s Reala.”

Helen gagged, “No way, Reala is such a douche.  They do look similar.  For all I know, they could have been siblings.”

“All Nightmaren are created by Wizeman, so I don’t really see where siblings would exist,” Will shrugged, “unless if Nightmaren are made in litters.”

Helen just laughed, “Like dogs?”

“We should have asked more questions.  When I started university, I had more questions.  I look a lot of psychology electives just to get answers.  It ended up that psychologists have little knowledge of the Night Dimension.  The professor just thought I was very creative.

“Then how would they explain us meeting in Nightopia?” Helen asked, “I guess we haven’t met in real life until now.”

Will shook his head, “I had my doubts until I saw you on YouTube.  I tried to comment to tell you that I exist, but you never answered.”

Helen rolled her eyes, “when you’re popular, you have way too many YouTube comments.”

“That’s what I supposed.  I gave up until I was visiting my parents, and saw you at the Bellbridge Clocktower.  I took the opportunity and talked to you.  Thank goodness that you remembered me.”

“How could I forget?” Helen asked, “You’re the boy of my dreams.”

At that point Will just blushed, “wait, you don’t mean that in a romantic way!”

Helen blushed right back and lied, “of course not! I should catch some Zs, it is night at this point in England.”

Will took out a rest pillow, “yeah, good idea!”

***

Helen didn’t dream of Jackle that time.  She dreamed of… Reala?

Reala was in a fancier and frillier garb.  Something that NiGHTS would wear on herself.  Either way, it was more fitting with the Persona he wore. “You’ve become…. Tall….”

Helen sat on a black couch in what seemed to be a library.  Reala sat on a table with one leg crossed over the other looking at Helen.  “So you know a nightmaren.”

“Yeah, I know you, I know NiGHTS.” Helen shrugged, “Haven’t seen NiGHTS in a while though.”

Reala sighed, “Yeah, that’s what she does to her kids.  Once they get taller, she stops seeing them.   It’s like NiGHTS was a kid herself.”

So that was why Helen hadn’t seen NiGHTS in a while.  Helen was twenty, which was very well into adult territory.  “You’re not going to take my Ideya, are you?”

Reala sneered, “I don’t take on tasks that are too difficult.  Young adults with one or two Ideya are much easier to get.  With their questions on the meaning of life, and they’re realizations of no longer being successful? Yeah, I would steal that in a heartbeat.  You? You fought Wizeman head on, and were almost successful at it.  Even before your success, nightmares just go through you.  It’s the same with the boy.  We can scare you all we want, but we just can’t take your Ideya.  You’re invincible at this point.  No.  I’m here for a warning.”

“Warning?” Helen asked, “If I’m invincible in this world, why do I need a warning?”

“There is a woman going to the same convention as you who has been the foundation of a particular nightmaren.  He is so powerful, that he meets beyond first and second level nightmaren.  Her fears were so great, that this Nightmaren was set loose to go to any dreamer.  He is loyal to Wizeman, but wasn’t used for any purpose due to Wizeman’s fears.  It’s a surprise that she too has become as invincible as you thanks to a particular power.  Her mind has become a point of power that it can transfer the physical body from the Dream World to the Waking World.  She used it every so often, and became a resident Visitor of Nightmare.  This Nightmaren is trying to find his way to this woman to find his way to the waking world.

“Do you want me to do something about this?  I’m going to California as we speak, so I can’t really help you,” Helen inclined.  Really, this is a business trip for her, so there is nothing she can do.

“I’m not asking for help, I am warning you to stay away from this woman.  She is also going to this convention you’re attending, and this nightmaren is after you.  You apparently upset him last night.”

“Upset him?” Helen knew who Reala was talking about, and she felt as though she did the right thing.  “He really had no right to force me to marry him!  Can Visitors and Nigthmaren even have a relationship?”

Reala just frowned, then he sighed, “This again?”

“It happened before?” Helen asked.

Reala took off his persona and rubbed his eyes, “yeah, to that very woman I mentioned.  She shot him down as well, and he went nuts.  Never to the point of wanted to get to the waking world.  I feel sorry for the poor woman. She took pity on the nightmaren that traumatized her as a child, and he just harassed her back.  NiGHTS had to step in and stand up for her. Sadly, she won’t take that stand again against the likes of Jackle.”

“Could you ask NiGHTS is she can help?” Helen asked, “Please?”

Reala placed his persona back onto his face and sighed, “Have you forgotten that NiGHTS doesn’t like me? Am I going to capture him, and be like, ‘oh, by the way, Helen needs your help!’ That isn’t how any world works you naïve brat.”

Helen looked down, “okay, then I’ll try to avoid this woman, what does she looks like?”

“Now you’re asking the right questions,” Reala laughed, “you may know her for her cult musicals: The Divine Opera.  Her name is Claris Sinclair.”

Well, that’s a connection that Helen can’t make now.  This majorly sucks.  Guess Helen needs to meet other people to help her grow as a musician.

***

When I met you, I fell in love.

But when he met me, he lusted for me.

He has power beyond belief.

You are kind of heart.

I know who I’d choose,

But for that, I need to run.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elliot's brother; Ian, finds a strange prereg for his convention, but he shakes it off due to stress of running a convention. 
> 
> Helen is in line for her name badge, when she happens to stand next to Claris, the woman she's been trying to avoid. Only that Claris has a proposal of her own: a part in her movie.

The Phantom Nightmaren

Chapter 3

Vidcon was created by the Super Edwards Brothers.   The Edwards brothers consist of Elliot and Ian Edwards.  Elliot is the author of a lot of Young Adult books, and had recently had one of his books adapted into a movie.  Ian is a scientist and musician, but most of his work is on YouTube to educate people, and to showcase his Sparklerock Band named: Bella and the Swans.  The two brothers live apart from each other, but record conversations to each other on YouTube.  These conversations could go from telling jokes, analyzing books, to very important things that were going on in the world.  These video had inspired young people to help change the world to make it into a better place.

Both Ian and Elliot admit that they were both awkward and scared kids when they were in high school.  Elliot often said that teenagers need to find that inner courage to do great things, just like a friend of his once did for themself.  Elliot was just passing this courage along to thousands of people just like what this friend did to him.

William Taylor was one of these people.  William got a spot in AFC Wimbledon, which was a team that was pushed to the minor leagues.  Thanks for support from Elliot’s fans; they were restored to former glory.  Will began to watch the Super Edwards Brothers’ video, and became very prominent into the Nerdfighter community.

The Super Edward Brothers found that YouTube was a good outlet to a lot of change in the world in many ways, and YouTubers need to network as much as everyone else.  So Ian got to work to create a convention for YouTube called: VidCon.  VidCon has been going on for many years, connecting more and more YouTubers together.

Although Ian has discovered that his convention has connected to another world.

“Hey, Ian, this registered guest has a strange address,” his secretary, Mindy, had noted.

Ian adjusted his hipster thick rimmed glasses to look at the address, “I never heard of this, ‘Night Dimension’ country.  It must be a troll.  He won’t be able to get the pass if the address isn’t on his ID.”

Mindy shook her head as the curls in her hair swung around, “it’s trolling a tad bit too far if he’s getting out of the way to pay money to go to VidCon.”

“But with a name like, ‘Phantom Jackle?’ it’s kind of too weird,” Ian cocked an thick blonde eyebrow.  He looked through the information, “Ze’s from the province of ‘Nightmare’ in ‘Night Dimension,’ with the gender, ‘unspecified.’ Ze made a comment that ze would also like to meet Helen Cartwright.”  

“That dubstep violin girl?” Mindy asked, “She is kind of cool.  Maybe ze’s a music fan.”

“I’m going to consult Google’s search engine about this,” Ian said, “I have a few minutes for a lunch break.”  

***

It was the weekend of VidCon, and Ian took a few breaths.  Elliot pat Ian on the back, “you’re doing good.”

“Hey Elliot,” Ian gulped a pill from his orange prescription bottle, “we are ready!  Everyone is in line for their prereg.”

“Great!  I can’t wait to announce my next book.” This book was a tad autobiographical and a fantasy for once in Elliot’s publishing career.  No one had to know the autobiographical part.

“So you did a lot of research on dreams for your book?” Ian asked.

“Yeah, a lot of Freud I may say,” Elliot nodded, “yet I made up most of it.”

Ian pushed the nose of his glasses upwards, “Ever heard of ‘Night Dimension?’”

Elliot’s face became red, “where did you hear about this?”

“Oh Mindy found a guest who came from, ‘Nightmare, Night Dimension,’ we thought it might be a psychology joke, but I didn’t find anything liable from a simple Google search rather than a couple of online dream journals.”

“Um of course not, it’s just that’s the location of my book. I hope nothing is leaked without me know it,” Elliot noted, “even if it could only be the first draft.”

“Oh, great, you think that might have happened?” Ian sighed, “I hope no one knows about your new book already.”

Elliot knew it wasn’t a leak, but that there might be danger up ahead if he doesn’t do anything fast.  He has to find Claris Sinclair if he’s going to assure safety to his attendants.

***

Helen waited in line for her pass.  Since everyone just had to flash their ID, it is going very quickly.  A woman with long pink dreadlocks pulled into a ponytail and aviator sunglasses was behind her.  Helen knew who she was, but she didn’t say anything because of Reala’s warning.

But the woman spoke up herself as she excitedly pulled her glasses off, “oh, you’re Helen Cartwright, aren’t you?  I tweeted about your latest video!”

Helen really needed to ignore her, but it was indeed the case that the condition of Helen’s latest video being viral was because of Claris.  Helen took a risk and spoke, “yes, I had a lot of album sales from that video.  I’m going to make another one from another song from the album.”

Claris smiled, “awesomesauce! It’s kind of lucky that we’re standing next to each other, I want to talk to you about something.”

“Um... sure,” Helen hesitated.  This cannot be good; this must be what Reala warned Helen about.

“Yeah, so in my musical Trilogy: The Divine Opera, I have a character named Georgia Jeanie, who lost a fiddle match with the Devil and has her soul damned to Hell.”

“Wait, what does this have to do with Dante Alighieri’s poems?” Helen asked.

“It’s a loose adaptation,” Claris noted, “but I want you to play Georgia Jeanie.  You have that really good dance style which will go well with her song.  You don’t have to sing at the same time, we always record you lip synching.”

Oh, great, this is an awesome opportunity, but Helen had to reject it, “I don’t know how to play in that style.” Of course she does, she’s played fiddle in secondary school in her band class of that very song Claris was parodying.  A good musician can adapt to different styles.  Why else would she research jazz music for a Fallout based video?

“Oh I bet you can learn! The movie’s producer knows a guy who teaches fiddle to classically trained violinists like yourself.”  

Okay, this is really a too good of an opportunity to pass up!  If Helen gets into an independent movie from a playwright who is known by the alternative music community, she may never have to work at that vinyl shop again. She needed to sound unappealing to Clairs, “Okay, but the song needs to have a mix of dubstep to it.” Awesome excuse, Helen!  If there’s something everyone hates, its dubstep.

“That was the plan already,” Claris noted, “if you’re going to be in this movie, the dubstep has to come with your role, no excuses.”

Oh great, she’s open minded.  Claris is making this offer nice and juicy.  She has to do something else, “but if I’m doing a contract for your movie, you have to get my song mixer, Natalie in the movie. I won’t play if she doesn’t mix.”

“Well, we were looking for an editor for the musical portions,” Claris implied, “let my producer look at a portfolio, and we can see about hiring her as well.”

“Oh, and only my public relations office, Lucy, can mention about me being in the movie,” Helen tried to make things harder; “none of your public relations can mention that I’m in the movie.”

“You really know how to argue a contract.  I didn’t expect this from a YouTuber without a lawyer,” Claris said, “but I think we can agree to these terms.  Meet me in Room 555 at the Hilton and we can discuss everything else.”

Helen was in the front of the line, and she took out her wallet to show her ID, and got her Guest Pass for the convention.

Helen walked away to look for Lucy and Natalie until the person behind Claris screamed.  

A big light shot out of Claris’ head and a creature emerged from that light.  He had a dark red jester like cap, an invisible body, a cape that was patterned in diamond shapes, and an elaborate golden mask that covered half of his shadowed face that only visibly showed his eyes and mouth.  Helen recognized what Reala warned Helen about, and ran.  

***

This is not what I feared.

But now that it is here,

I don’t know what to do.

The Phantom Nightmaren is present.

Everything will now be unpleasant.

For me, and everyone VidCon represents.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It seems like Claris has been to Nightmare after her high flying adventure, and used it for inspiration for her successful rock opera.
> 
> In the present, Helen is at a panel for the movie version of said opera, but Jackle isn't liking that another media star is getting the attention for being in this movie.

The Phantom Nightmaren

Chapter 4

Claris was going to college in California for Musical Performance.  Not only would college improve her singing, but she will learn how to act and dance.  Being in Los Angeles, she will also acquire connections from college.

Only one issue: Claris wasn’t a very good singer.  Claris wasn’t good enough to get into a good school, and she wasn’t good enough to get good marks for her singing classes.  All Claris was good at was Music Theory.  

At the end of her second semester, she talked to one of her professors about changing majors.

“Well, you have a good knack for sound,” said the professor, “have you tried composing?”

The next semester, Claris had tried the introductory composing class, and loved it.  Claris switched her major, and minored in Theatre which required more things, like tech, directing, and playwriting.  

Around the same time, Claris had discovered a movie called, “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

She went to a midnight showing one weekend.  It was an amazing movie, the interactivity, the aesthetics, the music.  That movie was inspirational to Claris, ands he starting going every month.

Around that same time, Claris discovered that she had more powers than she thought she previously had.

Claris hadn’t seen NiGHTS in a year, but was still able to get to The Dream Gate.  After each sleep, Claris felt a little funny in the head, and kept going back to The Dream Gate, even if she was awake.  She began to adjust herself to eventually be able to go to the Night Dimension anytime. Since Claris had more time to explore the Night Dimension, she discovered a lot more about the place.  She eventually got to Nightmare.  

It was a drab place, where many horrors could occur.  Yet it fascinated Claris.  She often went back to her dorm and wrote about what she saw.  Until she got caught by a familar face.

“So you’re the rat that’s been going about this place,” it was a red and black jester with a golden mask on that was right behind Claris.

Claris screamed and fell down, then she screamed again. She is actually in Nightmare, and she didn’t know what would happen to her now that she got caught.  Is she going to be captured? Tortured?

“Oh, you’re the girl that defeated Wizeman.” Reala glanced at Claris, “you look… different.”

Claris was dressed in all black with fishnet stockings, and black make up.  Yes, that would be different.  It was a surprised that he recognized her at all, they really haven’t talked much at all.

“What are you doing here?” Reala snapped at Claris, “It’s probably afternoon where you are. Don’t tell me you’re napping!”

“Um, I found a way to go to the Night Dimension on my own, and did some exploring.  I started sketching the things I saw, and writing down the concepts I have for something I’ve been writing.  You see, I’m writing a rock opera, and I’m getting the ideas from here.”

“Ideas?” Reala asked, “So you’re stealing our work?”

“More like taking inspiration from you,” Claris explained.

Reala’s eyes perked up, “oh, so you’d like to see our work? Let me show you around.”

And that has happened through a few trips.  Claris had seen many works of many nightmaren, until she asked about the wrong one, “what about Jackle?”

Reala opened his mouth, then shut it again with a cock of the eyebrow, “who?”

“Jackle, you know, that other jester like dude in red.  He has a cape, he throws cards, he can’t do much without his cape.  Jackle!”

“You don’t want to know,” Reala snapped at Claris.

Claris was smarter than that.  She very well wanted to know.  Claris has seen Jackle’s work before, oh, how he tormented her as a child.  She wanted to meet Jackle eye to eye and compliment him for the inspiration.  Claris was now a writer, and Jackle’s work is something she can use.  “If I don’t want to know, why do I want to know?”

Reala slapped his face so hard that the Persona came off.  Reala promptly placed it back on his face, “Jackle has been banished.”

“Why the Hell would Jackle be banished?  Was he too scary?” Claris asked.

Reala sighed, “no, he was too powerful for Wizeman.  The best thing to do was to shut him down.”

“Well, where is he? I can go anywhere, and I will find him.” Claris was not intimidated by Jackle’s supposed power.  She was determined to find Jackle.

“Probably mucking up someone’s Nightopia somewhere.  He often goes for the most innocent, so yours is out of the picture.”

Claris brushed off the snide comment, and made a deep smiled, “oh, I’ll trap him alright.”

***

Lucid Dreaming was Claris’ middle name.  Yep, it was Claris Lucid Dreaming Sinclair.  Claris raised the Nightopian count, and grew as many flowers, butterflies, and unicorns as she could.  She made the unicorns fart rainbows, because it wasn’t innocent enough.  Claris sat and waited, until she saw a unicorn turn black.  It neighed towards her, with a red jester with a gold mask that covered half of his face behind that black unicorn.  

Claris snapped her fingers, and her Nightopia went back to her liking.

“Well this one isn’t fun anymore.” Jackle rolled his eyes, “I better take my leave.”

“Wait!” Claris ran over to Jackle and grabbed his cape.  

Jackle looked back, “oh, you’re that Claris girl?  You’ve gotten… taller… and… bigger boobs.”

Claris blushed, “hey, it isn’t my fault they grew so large! I need to talk to you!”

Jackle tried to fly away, but a group of Nightiopians pushed him back towards Claris, “Nope, you’re mine until the end of the night.”

“What do you want?  It’s your fault I got banished!”

Claris looked around, “What?”

“Okay, maybe it’s more that you were the inspiration for me, but that’s not the point! What do you want?”

“Well, I want to thank you,” Claris said, “for inspiring me for my composing and writing.”

“So you aren’t a singer anymore?” Jackle asked, “Goodie! You were terrible at it!”

Claris sighed, “yeah, my grades will say the same thing.  No, I have discovered that I was better at composing, and I have been inspired so much from your nightmares that I am working on a full rock opera.”

Jackle sat on the air and thought for a moment, “a rock… opera?  Oh, what a good idea!  Opera did need a new spin! You must be a wonderful composer to find that mixing the two works well!”

“Um, no, I didn’t come up with the concept; I’m using it to write an opera.”

“And why do you need me?” Jackle asked.

“Well, I want to see your newer works.” Claris said, “it must have improved since I was fourteen.”

Jackle formed the nightopia to a dark and gloomy scape, “I mostly use Nightopias as my palate now.  Even Lucid Dreamers like you can’t overcome me.  Try!”

Claris tried to form it back, but with success the Nightopia looked awesome again.

“Huh, would you look at that?” Jackle scratched his head, “must be the whole ‘almost defeating Wizeman’ thing.”

“Speaking of Wizeman,” Claris said, “I could probably get you back on his side.”

“To return the favor?” Jackle asked, “I don’t think you can do that.”

“Try me,” Claris stuck out her tongue.

***

Helen went on about the convention.  She sat at her booth to sell albums, and got a lot of fans who bought her album, and she signed them with her beautiful handwriting.  Yet it was nerve-wracking for Helen to know that Jackle was about the con.  In real life.  Not in a dream.  In the scape of reality.  Outside of her head.  Where he could do real damage.

A tall man with frameless glasses, and blue hair came over to Helen’s booth, “Are you aware of a ‘Nightopia?’”  It was Elliot Edwards, from the Super Edward Brothers, the brothers who created VidCon.  Helen knew who Elliot was, yet she was more of a fan of Ian, and his Twilight songs and his science.  Yet it was VidCon, meeting a famous author like Elliot wasn’t too much of a surprise.  

“Y-yes, I haven’t been there in forever,” Helen slowly answered.  

“Knew any Nightmaren personally?” Elliot asked, “Sorry if this is too personal, but there is something strange going on with our systems.”   

“I’m already aware of what has gone about.” Helen had answered, “Is Jackle explaining everything?”

“No, I’ve been since 1996 and stop going there in 2003.  It’s a tad coincidental that a Nightmaren has gone to our con, but stranger things have happened.”

“Stranger?” Helen looked at Elliot with confusion.

“Okay, nothing stranger than this,” Elliot dismissed the entire comment, “But we are trying to manage this.  We can kick Phantom Jackle out because he hasn’t done anything wrong.  It is working up a rumor mill though.  He said something about being the fiancé of a famous YouTuber, and was going to marry them this weekend.”

A passerby squealed, “I know, right?  This is so romantic! They’ve met before they became famous!  I bet it’s Erik Erikson! He’s perpetually single, and he’s mentioned many secret admirers!”

Another passer by scoffed, “no, it’s totally Holly Heartland!  She’s just as strange as that cosplayer, and they’re a perfect match!”

“Holly is a lesbian, she can’t marry a guy!” the other passerby called out!

“How do you know this strange visitor is a guy?  She might be a girl!” the passerby called back!”

“Ladies!” Elliot called out, “don’t start a fight in the dealer’s room!  Whoever it is, I bet they’re really happy to have their lover return!”

“I bet it’s Claris,” it was Natalie, who had just sat down next to Helen with a gyro, “he did appear in front of her.”

“Yeah… but didn’t Jackle say it’s a YouTuber.  Claris is more of a rock opera composer,” Helen shrugged.

“Don’t you know that Claris has a series of Vlogs?” Natalie mentioned, “It totally counts, those are how she got her opera famous enough for all three of them to be made into movies.  By the way, congrats on getting signed for this movie, and thank you for talking her into having me be the sound mixer!”

Helen really needs to find a CD with Claris’ rock operas.  She really doesn’t know anything about them.

***

Helen was invited to the host the panel on The Divine Opera, but as a surprise host.  She stood back stage where she waited with Athens Hilton.  How did Claris get Athens Hilton to play the part of The Devil’s daughter? It’s a fitting role, but still! Helen was breathing, this was her first big appearance at VidCon, and no one was expecting it.

“Nice hair,” Athens noticed on Helen. Helen had this layered mullet about her that was recently retrimmed.

Did Athens Hilton compliment her?  Helen took no care about celebrities like her, but a celebrity like her complimented her hair! “Thank you, I go to an alt place in Bellbridge.”

“Oh, that other city with a huge clocktower!  I’d say, it’s better than the one in London, I performed there once back when I was a bigger sensation.”

“I did when I was twelve,” Helen said, “it was a huge deal for me since I wasn’t famous like you are right now.”

“Oh, you’re totally famous.  Claris can’t stop talking about you and how you should play Jeanie!” Athens laughed, “She’s a really cool lady! You’ll come to like her!”

The MC called out, “and playing Claris’ lovely daughter, is Athens Hilton!”

Athens had left Helen’s presence as everyone else looked at Helen.  They whispered.  Athens wasn’t cool with the nerd community, so her talking to Helen could turn a few heads.  

Helen looked over at the panel, and Paris started singing.  

“In one end, I’m and angel,

The work of God.

In the other, I’m a Devil,

From Satan herself.

I don’t care who I am!

Just let me party!”

Suddenly, a huge crash occurred.  The chandelier of Conference Room A came falling out, and was going to crash into Athens.  Helen ran to the stage and pushed her out of the way.  Only that Helen was now at the center of the crash.  Helen ducked, and the chandelier hit the now empty table.

After all of the screaming, there were whispered.  What was Helen Cartwright doing here?  Did a musical sensation like her just save Athens Hilton’s life? Was that a new haircut? There were many mutters.  

Lucy threw Helen her violin.  Helen immediately propped it up, and played a little fiddle music she remembered from secondary school.  She danced with the beat in a jolted light hearted way.  Everyone cheered.  It seemed like the message went across.  

Then suddenly a voice boomed from all over the conference room, “Now that’s the real star you should be excited about for this movie!”

Claris shivered, “Jackle, we had enough of your crap! We all know that Penny Reno is the star, not Athena or Helen!”

Jackle suddenly appeared on stage by putting on his cape, hat and mask.  “So you don’t want me to announce that my fiancé is going to be in your movie?”

All the girls screamed with delight.  Who knew that it was Helen who was Jackle’s secret fiancé? Well, Elliot Edwards seemed to know, but he cheated.  

Claris just stared at Jackle, “were you naked on stage before you appeared?”

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out,” Jackle snarked at Claris as his put his hand on Helen’s shoulder.  Helen shivered and tried to push Jackle off, but that was all moot. Everyone awed with delight from this romance.

“She’s uncomfortable!” A young man called out.

Everyone looked around, they didn’t know who caught the nonverbal and had the balls to call that out.  But the man with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes came onto the stage.  No one knew who he was, mostly because he wasn’t famous like the others on the stage.  He grabbed Helen’s arm and dragged her out of the stage.

They kept on running until they got to an empty patio with a small bush and a picnic table.  

Helen couldn’t believe it, Will came to rescue her from that awkward situation.  Helen didn’t care about all the gossip that would be about her, she was just happy that Will came to rescue her.

***

You were the man of my dreams,

And you were here for me.

From the time we were young,

Now my heart can go free.

It has been way too long,

Since I saw you first.

But can you get me through the worst?

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claris talks to Wizeman about some very important things. 
> 
> Helen talks to Will about her situation, and Will thinks that Elliot might be able to help.

The Phantom Nightmaren

Chapter 5

Claris kept on coming back to Nightmare.  The more she went, the more questions she had for Reala.  That was until she asked a really big question.

“Is it possible to talk to Wizeman?” Claris knew this was a taboo question, but she needed Wizeman to get a bigger idea for her main antagonist.  

“Well, it’s very possible for me to pull some strings,” Reala said, “It’s not like you’re an enemy of us anymore, and we can’t do anything to harm you since you once were our enemy.”

Claris nodded her head, “so I’ll see you.  I’ll need to take some notes from what I learned.”

***

The next time Claris came back, Reala crossed his arms at the door and smiles, “You will be seeing Wizeman now.”

Reala showed Claris to an void like room with many candles around it.  A giant creature with a  metal head, and six floating hands was there, “Ah, you’re the woman Reala told so much about.”

Claris took out a voice recorder, “yes, I’d like to ask a few questions.  I’m writing a rock opera on a Realm in Visitor religion called Hell.  

“Yes, I am aware of Hell,” Wizeman said, “a lot of visitors fear it.”

“Yes, and I’ve made the connection that: like the Devil, you also run a realm of fear.  I’d like to interview you to get a better idea about my interpretation of The Devil.”

“Very well,” said Wizeman, “a good idea to model The Devil after myself.”

“Okay, so how did you start Nightmare?” Claris asked.

“Well, I’m actually from another realm of powerful Creators.  I saw Nightopia, and saw that it was too chaotic.  I needed to add balance to the realm by projecting the creatures’ of Earths’ fears.  Fear is what I did best.”

“Have you ever collaborated with anyone?” Claris asked.

Wizeman paused, “there is no one in nightmare as powerful as myself.”

Claris made a humming sound and tapped her forehead, “I don’t know, I remember meeting a certain nightmaren just as powerful as you.”

“That was a mistake that you caused, and that is why he is banished,” Wizeman sternly remarked.

“I caused?” Claris muttered, “what did I do?”

“You were too strong for us to take your Ideya of Courage.  I needed to create a Nightmaren that can take your courage so you will not succeed in life.  Obviously, thanks to a certain rebel, that did not work.”

Claris huffed for a moment, but she knew she needed to stay positive, “Well, maybe it can all work out.  Maybe if you worked together with Jackle, you can take more Ideya and have more Visitors fail.”

“You want Visitors to fail?” Wizeman asked.

Claris knew something that Wizeman didn’t that would make the entire thing moot in point.  Yet for the safety of that Visitor, she didn’t say anything about that, “If we had too many Visitors succeed, then there would be more room for me to succeed.”

Wizeman laughed in an evil and maniacal way, “you have the true making of a nightmaren.  I’ll welcome Jackle back to Nightmare, as long as you give me a tape of your first performance.”

“Er, do you have a DVD player?” Claris asked.

“Making one is not beyond my limits.  Yet someday you’ll probably see films with nothing at all.  It could be streaming from this ‘Internet’ of yours.”

Claris laughed, “Visitors can dream.”

***

Helen and Will sat at the patio.  “Can we just hang here until the drama stops?” Helen asked, “I want you to stay with me.”

Will looked into the windows, “I don’t think the drama will ever stop, but I know what you mean.”  Will took a football out of his backpack and spiked it to Helen.

Helen tried to get the football with her feet, but she ended up kicking it too far.  Luckily Will jumped up, and stopped it with his head, “not much of an athlete?”

“I played Volleyball at the seaside when I was 15, but that’s more with the hands,” Helen blushed, “Football seems more like the feet version.”

“Well, it isn’t called football for nothing,” Will picked up the ball into his hands, “but the American version, that’s called football for nothing.”

Helen giggled, “I guess it is.”

“So who was your fiancé?  Didn’t seem like you agreed to anything,” Will spoke up, “and is he a Nightmaren?”

Helen nodded her head, “A nightmaren named Jackle.  I’ve heard that he was created to get Claris’ Ideya of Courage.  Yet Claris had a similar journey to us, and was able to find and keep all of her Ideya.  Apparently he tried the same thing on Claris, but NiGHTS was able to stop him.”

“So let’s get NiGHTS to stop him now!  She’d be happy to help.”

“There’s one problem,” Helen muttered, “We’re adults.”

Will just paused and shuddered.  “I never thought I was until now.”

Helen nodded her head, “it’s scary to think about.  But we’re no longer teenagers.  We can vote, drink, drive, and take care of ourselves.  According to Reala, NiGHTS finds adults to be boring.  We no longer have that childlike wonder.”

Will sat on the bench and looked down, “I guess that we are adults, and now it’s screwing us over.”

“Yeah, and we need to figure out how to get Jackle to not marry me, and get him out of the convention before the weekend is up.”

“Elliot,” Will cried.

Helen cocked an eyebrow, “Elliot?” Oh wait, Elliot Edwards? New York Times Bestselling Author, Vlogger with over one million subscribers, and one of the two runners of this convention, “He mentioned that he’s been to Nightopia.”

“Oh, I just thought he was a good person to help in general,” said Will, “but if he was also a Visitor, then that helps too!”

“Will?” Helen randomly asked, “I know there’s a good sushi place in this city, and I think you’d like it.  Want to go with me Sunday afternoon before we catch the plan back, as a date?”  

“Oh, but you have a fiancé don’t know?” Will tease, then had his real answer, “Sure!  I don’t have an SO at the moment.  We barely know each other, but that’s what dating is for.”

Helen gave Will a kiss on the cheek, “thanks.  I’ve wanted to go on a date with you for a long time.”

***

Elliot set up his digital camera at the convention hall and began to speak, “Good morning Ian, it’s Tuesday, and….”

Ian appeared from the crowd, “And I’m right here!”

“What are the chances?” Elliot asked, “Now there’s a lot of hubbub going about this convention.”

“Yeah, like your new book, ‘Into Dreams!’ This is your first published fantasy!” Ian cried out in excitement!

“Yes, it is about a General of the Nightmare Army who rebels against the forces, and decides to help us humans with their courage to overcome anything!” Elliot explained, “But don’t worry, there’s plenty of teen romance in there too!”

Ian made a phew of relief, “thank goodness, it wouldn’t be an Elliot Edwards book otherwise!”

A random girl interrupted the video, “you’re talking about your book when Helen Cartwright is getting married?”

Elliot stopped the recording.  This is what he hated about shooting in public.  Ian nodded his head, “I guess we should talk about that.”

“But it is Helen’s business and her business alone,” Elliot hissed, “also, there’s something weird about that fiancé.  I’ve heard about him from Claris.”

Ian knew that Elliot and Claris were close friends until college.  At this point, they’re both Facebook friends on each of their personal pages, but they speak rarely.  “What, did he date Claris?  Too bad you didn’t get her either.”

Elliot rolled his eyes.  Ian often felt like he ‘missed,’ on dating Claris.  For Elliot, it didn’t matter.  He had a wife and two children, and he loved them dearly.  Claris has been having boyfriends and girlfriends, but nothing permanent, and she liked it that way.  When it came to love, Elliot and Claris were opposites.  Elliot didn’t ‘miss’ at all, he just wasn’t suited to date a wild girl like Claris. “They never dated, at least I hope not.  Jackle was Claris’ bully in Elementary school way until the beginning of High School.”

“The plot thickens,” Ian smiled, “is Jackle a screen name? Is he Robert Weiner?  Gosh, what a jackass!  He’s probably a hikikomori who spends too much time on that cosplay.”

“No, Jackle always had a job, and still has the same one,” Elliot defended the nightmaren, “Can we get to the video?”

Ended up that the camera was in Ian’s hands and he was filming.  Ian stopped recording and ran as fast as he could, “I’ll be seeing this on Thursday, Elliot!”

***

Vidcon had a cafe where people could stop by to get some coffee or a spot of tea.  Yet that afternoon, there was a lot of order for tea.

Holly Heartland looked at all of the orders and began to sweat, she saw the tea kettle, she saw the cannisters of loose leaf tea, and she saw the teapot, “How many spoonfuls of this tea am I supposed to make?”  Holly took a swig at a bottle of wine.  This is worse than shooting a drunken YouTube video

The jester like fiance of Helen flew by, “oh!  You have tea here?”

Holly laughed nervously, “yeah, but I only know about coffee and espresso.”

Jackle set the kettle to 212 degrees, then opened the canister, “you shouldn’t have the tea at boiling, because it will only burn the leaves.”  Jackle took out a spoon and looked at how many orders there were, “so there are five orders, so we make six scoops.”

Holly clenched her teeth, “why six?”

“One for each guest, and an extra for good measures,” Jackle noted.

Holly nodded her head, “awesome! Can I leave you to the tea while I work on the lattes?” Holly suddenly left.

Jackle growled as he poured the tea, “hey, I’m going to marry a star! I have no place to be making tea for other people!” Jackle waited out the three minutes, then served the tea to the people who ordered.

A girl in a very frilly dress put some sugar in the tea and took a sip, “oh, this is quite inquisit! Who brewed it?”

“I did thank you very much!” Jackle smiled “I learned from the best.”

“Well, you’re a very good learner,” the girl said, “and I wish you luck with your marriage with Helen.”

***

Helen went to Suit 555 and knocked on the door.  “Who is it?” asked a womanly voice.

“It’s Helen,” Helen said, “I had a lot going on, and I need a friend.”

Claris opened the door.  She was wearing a long band T-shirt and a set of yoga pants. “Aw, you consider me a friend?  I think this’ll end up beautiful.”

Helen blushed, she never had a celebrity tease her like that, just had one compliment her hair.  “Or, more that I know something about you, and it’s something we have in common.”

Claris rolled her eyes, “you’re a Visitor aren’t you?  This isn’t a secret world or anything.  Elliot always treats it like it is.  Now he ends up writing about it and saying it’s his own creation.  At least I have my own world set up.” Claris showed Helen to the suite, “make yourself at home.  Want a shampoo?  I have dreadlocks, and I don’t wash my hair often, but I don’t want to waste a free salon shampoo.”

Helen shook her head, “no.  But I would like to know about Jackle.”

Claris sighed then sang, “sexual harassment Nightmaren!” She sat down on a couch, “even without genders, Nightmaren can sexually harass a visitor, and that makes me a sad Claris.”

Helen giggled, she felt like Claris was referencing something, but she didn’t know what it was. Then she realized, “Wait, was he as bad on you as he was with me?”

“Hey, you’re a cute girl who probably at least has an Ideya of Courage, of course Jackle will want to marry you.  He’s a lonely dude!” Claris took a bottle of champagne out of some ice, “Super Edward Bros gave this to me.  Want a glass?”

“If we were in England, yes,” Helen answered, “but I’m too young to drink here.”

“Nonsense!” Claris cried out, “The higher drinking age is to keep stupid Americans from drinking, not smart Europeans!” Claris poured a glass, then gave it to Helen.

And they drank until it got even darker.  The Champagne was strong stuff.  Helen didn’t think she could get to her hotel room alone due to her situation, so Claris offered that Helen could sleep over.  

***

Helen woke up to her phone’s alarm.  Her head was killing her. Helen saw that she wasn’t wearing any clothes, and her head felt like knives, “oh crap!”

Helen heard singing in the kitchenette where Claris was cooking bacon.  “In the night, dream delight, I want to see you standing there!”

Helen quickly placed her clothes on her, and went to the kitchenette, “Claris, this is bad! I think we…. Did it.”

Claris handed Helen a bottle of aspirin, “no, I’d remember if we did.  You got naked and curled up into the bed with me and platonically cuddled.  I was in my pajamas.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” Helen sighed.  Helen couldn’t even conceptualize the consequences of actually doing that sort of thing with Claris.

Claris made a slight frown.  “You’re too young for me.  Also, I think if we did, Jackle will be all over our both of our asses.”

A red and black jester like nightmaren sipped on some coffee, “Jackle will never have to know about those disgusting Visitor habits of yours, that you you may have or haven’t done to each other.”

“You know I never did it before,” Helen mumbled, “it would be very vital that you don’t tease me.”

“Then I won’t say anything,” Reala put the coffee down, “I tried to talk to NiGHTS about this… situation… NiGHTS said that Helen is a big girl and can deal with it herself.”

“What really?” asked Claris, “that isn’t like NiGHTS at all.”

“Okay, I may have paraphrased,” Reala rolled his eyes, “the thing is, I will have to be your precious purple rebel for this.”

Suddenly, Helen’s cell phone rang.  Helen saw it was Will, and picked it up, “hello?”

“So I talked to Elliot, and he has a solution.”

Reala rubbed his temples, “That kid?  Can we please leave him out of this?”

Helen put the phone on speaker, an older voice was speaking, “Oh, Reala, you made your way to the waking world as well?  Then maybe I can ask if you noticed something strange about the visitors that you’ve recognized as of late?”

“You mean that more of them possess an abundance Ideya? It’s annoying, and I wish we could do a better job!  NiGHTS have been very full of herself about this.”

“Or perhaps I should be full of myself on this!” Elliot noted, “When a Visitor has all five of their Ideya, they possess secondary powers relating to the Night Dimension.  Claris can willingly travel to the dimension.  Will can fly in the Waking World as well as The Dream World without the help of a dream creature. For me, I can regenerate Ideya of visitors that come in contact with me through any media, or in real life.”

Helen dropped the aspirin bottle and Reala dropped his coffee mug, “What?”

“I may not have the most powerful power, but I’ve used it in such a mass that it affects the rate of success among Visitors.”

Reala stuck out his middle finger.

“You know he can’t see you,” Claris pointed out.

“Well maybe you Visitors should come up with a way so he can!”

Helen rolled her eyes and turned on FaceTime.  She could see Will and Elliot.

“You can do that?” Reala asked, “last time I checked, you can only do that on computers!”

Will waved his hand, “why did you go to Facetime?”

“So Reala doesn’t make rude gestures,” Helen shrugged.

“Well, Reala is a ‘rude jester,’” Elliot punned.

“Holly Heartland you are not,” Claris groaned, “So pretty much, Elliot can regenerate Ideya if he inspires them enough.  This happened to Ian first when he decided to go back to high school, then Elliot realized his talent and became a writer to regenerate Idyea of the people who reads his material.  Then in 2004, YouTube was invented!”

“Ah, yes, the glorious YouTube!  I was a published author at that point, but I knew about my powers, and thought I could use this new technology to make the difference.  I decided to make it a conversation with Ian, who was the first Visitor to regain his Ideya from my power.  Eventually, more and more visitors subscribed.  We began to set up community service events around the world, other people began to make vlogs about their lives and knowledge, and more internet users were learning.  When I was helping out Will’s team, Will was able to tell me about the effect of what I did to so many visitors.”

“That’s awesome!” Helen exclaimed, “but what does this have to do with a nightmare at the convention?”

“I have a lot of power at VidCon due to my Perfect Dreamer powers,” Elliot explained, “if I told everyone that Jackle was bad news, people will turn against him.”

“Are you thinking of saying something during one of your panels?” Claris asked.

Elliot further explained, “Ian did some work to release a chapter of my new book, and trace it to the IP address Jackle used to register to VidCon.  When I announce that Ian found out that Jackle leaked the book during my expert reading, everyone will turn against him and he’ll leave.”

Helen made a huge smile, “that’s fantastic!”

“Yes, but you can’t say anything about it,” said Elliot, “it is vital that this only comes from me.”

Reala smiled as he put his name tag around his invisible neck, “you were always a clever boy, I just hope this won’t flop.”

Claris took a bite of bacon, “he’s Elliot ‘Good Ideas’ Edwards, how else could he have defeated Wizeman?”

Reala rolled his eyes, “um, he didn’t.  Wizeman is too powerful to get defeated by such measly visitors.”

“Okay, then almost!” Claris offered Reala a piece of bacon, “and try to have fun! Maybe you should start a makeup vlog!”

“Oh, no, I’m going to a meet for The Divine Opera fans,” Reala flew towards the door, “I’ve wanted to talk about your musical for ages.”

Claris blushed, “well, I’m glad you like it.”

Helen had to get going too!  She had a dress rehearsal for a concert soon, and she had to jolt.  She was sure that everything will fold into place with Elliot’s clever plan.

***

We’ve got a plan, we’ve got a plan.

Let’s just hope it’s doesn’t pan.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are rumors about of Elliot's book being leaked by Jackle, but Jackle has other plans.

The Phantom Nightmaren

Chapter 6

Chai Dream Latte

Helen was in her same clothing as last night, and her hair was a mess, which seeing that was layered to the extreme, it was more of a mess than usual.  Yet Helen had her electric violin, and had it on her chin for a sound check.  

“Okay, soundcheck!” Natalie called out.

Helen played a few notes, but then there was a huge crackling through the speakers.

“Sorry, let me see what’s wrong,” Natalie played around with the room’s sound, “now try again!”

Helen played a few more notes, and that went very well.

“Play Clockwork Girl!” Natalie cried out in excitement. She played the begining part of the dubstep portion of the song, so Helen had no choice.

Helen began to play as she danced around in a mechanical way.  Granted, it was better when she played in front of the Bellbridge Clocktower, but it was still fun.

When Helen played the last note, Natalie ran across the room as she clapped her hands, “awesome!”

“Yeah, things are kind of looking up,” Helen mentioned.

“Yeah, you’re getting a lot of album sales, you’re engaged, and now you have that contract with Claris?  Things are awesome!”

Helen frowned, “No, I’m not engaged, those are just nasty rumors.”

Natalie rolled her eyes, “oh, like those nasty rumors that your fiance leaked a chapter of Into Dreams?”

Ah, so word is going around already?  These things travel fast, but Helen isn’t liking that Natalie doesn’t believe them, “Jackle is the sort of folk to leak such information.  He does have hacking skills.”

Natalie stuck her tongue out in disgust, “if Jackle hacked into Elliot’s computer, and found his book, then why didn’t he leak the entire book?”

Helen shrugged, “maybe he’s planning to leak it one chapter at a time?  Jackle does want a lot of attention.”

Natalie shook her head, “No, if a hacker gets an entire book, then he would share the entire thing.  It’s usually only a matter of time before they get caught.”

“Well, no one said that Jackle was smart,” Helen shrugged, “he may know a lot about music, but he’s wrong in the head.”

Natalie giggled then adjusted her hat, “Okay, I’ll give you that.”  

***

Jackle floated into the gaming room where some people were dealing some cards.  

These black and white cards appealed to Jackle.  It was so simple.  Jackle was dealt a deck, and it had some risque sentences.

A man who Jackle recognized as Erik Erikson dealt out a black card, “The newest YouTube challenge will the Blank Challenge.”

Jackle supposed that he had to play a card that would make a good challenge for YouTube.  Jackle played the best card and placed it.  

Erik looked at the cards being played, then he laughed, “The Dead Parents Challenge?”

Everyone laughed at the horribleness this card would imply.

Erik snorted some more, “whose card is this?”

“Mine,” Jackle said as he had to laugh himself.

“Wow, you’re really twisted,” Erik became red with laughter, “I bet Helen laughs at your jokes all of the time.”

Jackle smiled, “oh yes she does.”

***

Helen wasn’t the only one who had musical advice from Jackle.  After Claris got Jackle back in Nightmare, they began to converse.  Conversing turned into Jackle reading Claris’ work.  Reading Claris’ work has turned into critique.  Critique has turned into better work.  Better work has turned into a stage production.  A stage production with very good reviews, and Jackle felt like he needed something for that help.

Of course, ever since Claris’ recent success, she hadn’t had time to go to Nightmare.  She had a second play to write, she was a senior in college, and she had a lot of parties to go to since she was the talk of the musical and goth community.  

Of course Claris slept.  So Jackle found his way to her nightopia to ask for something in return.

Claris was playing with the Nightopian’s of Soft Museum, when she was suddenly grabbed and fell into a boat.  The boat was rowed by Jackle who stood with an intent on his face.  

Claris didn’t dare speak, since for the first time in years, she was scared.  She began to lose her breath, and from an attempt to breath came a series of rapid and short breaths.  Claris couldn’t control it at all.  The clear blue Awakers quickly try to grab her, chittering from urgency as though they needed to get her out of this space immediately.  Yet the Awakers were quickly defeated by Jackle’s throw of the cards.  They exploded from a black smoke.  There was no way for Claris to get out of this now.

The boat stopped to a space where there were candlelights everywhere with rose petals on the floor.  An organ was in the middle of it all.

Claris stepped off the boat to look around the space. She saw a bed, a kitchenette, and a few utilities. "Do you live here?"

Jackle smiled "why yes, and for compensation for your successful play, you will too!"

Claris was silent. Why would Claris live with Jackle? A Visitor has no space to permanently live in the Night Dimension. Claris being able to go to that space was pushing it enough. Why was this compensation for her successful play?  Can't a friend help another friend? "Why?"

It was the question she asked. Her mind was boggled, so it was all that she could ask.  Why?

"Because I helped you become a successful playwright and composer. Shouldn't I get something in return?"

"I thought we were friends," Claris muttered.

"Yes, and friends do stuff for each other. I helped you, and now you shall live with me."

"This isn't how it works!" Claris cried out. She kneeled onto the ground. She was in such deep trouble that she repeated to herself "wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up!" The clear blue Awakers appeared again, they grabbed Claris as she floated towards to conscious state. At least until Claris felt a card hit her and she fell onto the hard ground.

"You aren't waking up, ever!" Jake growled.

Claris couldn't wake up. This couldn't be happening. Claris had classes to take, her vlog to shoot, parties to go to. Just because Claris' life got better meant she had to leave her world. Even if the world she frequently visited helped her got to that spot.

***

Helen stood in the back of Conference Room A as Elliot was reading an excerpt of his new book.

Nightmare was a world without change. Fear was concise and thus, is constant. NiGHTS was bored of continuity and wanted everything to be changing, just like the ways Visitors were with their Ideya.

Helen wondered how NiGHTS would feel if she learned that she was the protagonist of a book. NiGHTS may learn this from the younger visitors that have read the book. Maybe even give more visitors hope, just like Elliot has been doing the entire time.

Elliot had finished the chapter, then he addressed "now, some of you may have read that already."

There was chatter amongst the room.

"According to Ian, this chapter has been leaked due to a hack of my personal Google Docs account. Yet Ian has found the perpetrator, who is no other than Jackle."

Smoke appeared on the stage as strobe lights flickered. Suddenly appeared was Jackle in a silver mask that resembled a skull, "Why would I show the world your unfinished work if it's nowhere near the masterpiece of mine?"

There were cheers.

Helen was about to leave Conference Room A, when something was mentioned.

"I shall accompany this masterpiece with my fiancé and my ex fiancé."

"Wait? Ex fiancé?" Ian cried out, "there was another?"

Elliot looked down and sighed "if you counted Claris Sinclair, then yes."

"Why didn't you tell me Claris was engaged?" Ian cried out.

"It was in 2003, we were out of contact then."

Helen had to walk onto the stage. Helen still looked slobbish. With her uneven hair put up into a messy ponytail, a pink jacket that was wrapped around her shoulders, a Tshirt that was sold at her booth, and black leggings. Everyone stared Helen down as she walked.

Helen got on stage and looked at Jackle, "you really want me to play your masterpiece?"

"Of course, you do have my full devotion." Jackle looked at his hand as if everything was obvious, "the genius behind The Divine Opera doesn't have much choice either."

"Oh, we have our choices." Helen screamed.  "We are Visitors, not slaves!"

Elliot stood up as well, "we are visitors!"

Ian didn't know what was going on, but he also stood up "We are visitors!"

"Shut up Ian," Jackle snarled, "your musical career has full attribute to me."

"But it still gives no means to harass me," Helen's face was red with anger, "if Claris and I play your song at the end of my concert, will you leave us both alone?"

"I'll never leave you alone," Jackle floated up high. Everyone screamed from the fact Jackle could fly, "but I'll let you stay in the Waking World while we are married."

Helen took a deep breath, "fine!"

"Then it's a deal! We shall practice now!" Smoke appeared again and they both disappeared.

***

Even my Ideya can't control.

My heart's fear that it pulls.

This agreement is one sided.

Only to realized it's something minded.

This convention's phantom is winning.

My fate, for good, is now kindling.

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Visitors are awfully tired of Jackle's shenanigans, but they can't do much than to perform his song. Only that Will and Elliot have a plan!

The Phantom Nightmaren

Chapter 7

**  
  
**

One thing to notice is that Claris had the trauma of Jackle’s torment as well.  Claris had spent a long time with Jackle. Yet Claris knew she had to get back to her world. So she called up an Awaker, and told it, "Tell NiGHTS that I'm trapped here."

The Awaker nodded its head and flew away.

Soon after, NiGHTS came flying down the waterway and confronted Jackle, "this has gone too far!"

Jackle began to laugh, "too far? Like what you did to Wizeman?"

NiGHTS rolled her eyes, "you can't interfere with Visitors up to keeping them in the Night Dimension."

Jackle threw a card at NiGHTS.

Claris knew she had to help. Claris ran over to NiGHTS and dualized with the nightmaren.

Jackle began to frown, "you're the one who sent this rebel?"

"Who else could help?" Claris asked. She flew over to Jackle and ripped his cape off!

Jackle was now vulnerable. He tried to get his cape back, but Claris just used her power to get him until he exploded.

Claris then flew away.

***

"What?" NiGHTS screamed, "You spent how much time in Nightmare?"

"Three years on and off?" Claris squeaked. At that point she knew what she did was a bad idea.

"And all for an opera?" NiGHTS frowned, "that's sort of small scale to do something this dangerous.

The Awakers appeared, and Claris knew it was time to go, "I'll stay out of Nightmare from now on, honest."

NiGHTS shook her head, "okay, but I won't be helping you again."

Claris knew now that was the reason why NiGHTS wasn't helping Helen.

***

It was a long time practicing, but Helen thought she had it down. Helen got her her hotel room, then flopped on the bed. There was an an hour before she needed to be present at the concert, and she probably needed to eat.

Helen's cell phone rang, and she answered, "want some chili?" It was Claris' voice. They were just together, but she had to call for a meal. Wait... A meal...

"Yeah, but where did you get chili?" Helen asked.

"I made it!" Claris proudly answered, "It saves money to have a slow cooker at a convention."

Helen got up, "why didn't you ask when we left the studio!"

"And invite Jackle? Hell no."

This seemed kind of nice. It was forming that Helen and Claris were becoming friends. This probably wouldn't happen if Jackle had stayed out of everything. Yet then again, Helen wouldn't be successful without Jackle.

***

Elliot laid on the ground of the convention hall's gym. It was a large room with bleachers on the side, and two baskets to resemble Elliot's favorite sport. Elliot had that orange ball that he threw up onto the air and caught.

Why do Nightmaren have to be so unhelpful? Elliot was aware it's in their nature, he did the research. Yet Jackle seemed to want more out of Helen than what he gave to the poor girl. Elliot had heard that Helen had a hard life until she became internet famous, but it wasn't worth giving it up to be married to the fellow. Helen used charisma to be able to stay on this world, but she still has to marry a Nightmaren.

It's odd, since NiGHTS never asked for anything in return.

Elliot didn't catch the ball the last time he threw it, and was about to bonk him in the head until a young man caught it. "Will!"

It was Will alright. Will dribbled the ball until he got close to the net, then he got on one leg and made a basket. Will got the ball and passed it to Elliot.

Elliot got to the same spot, tried to shoot the ball standing on one leg, but missed. Elliot was really out of practice.

"Guess that's an H," Will chuckled them sighed, "like Helen."

If Elliot knew anything, it was young adult romance, he could read Will like one of his books, "you wanted to date Helen?"

Will shrugged, "call it more of a distance crush. I saw her in Nightopia, then found her on YouTube. She's cute, and we're into the same things. Yet that barely says of we'll make good partners.  I’m having a date with her on Sunday, but at this point, I don't know."

"It's obvious that Jackle is manipulating her," Elliot analyzed, "and as chairman of the convention, I need to stop him."

"No, I need to stop him," Will cried out. He stole the ball from Elliot and made a slam dunk, "Helen and I help each other out, it's what we do."

A back ring appeared from the ground and Reala rose from that circulation, "may I advise you on this mission?"

***

Helen finished the last note of her Phantasy Star melody and knew what was next. Helen began to sweat, she knew she didn't get much practice.

Claris and Jackle walked onto the stage. Claris was wearing a purple mini dress with an underbust pink corset. She looked beautiful. Claris winked at Helen.

Helen began to play the song and danced to her heart's content. Helen wanted to hate the song, but she had to love it for the fact that it had the right sound, the right beat, and the right meter. Helen paid attention to Claris who was singing in the nightmare language with Jackle.

Only things went sour when the spotlight on Helen flicked upwards, and she heard a scream at the tech booth. Helen stopped playing when she saw Reala attack Natalie.

"Keep playing," Jackle growled under his breath. Helen had to oblige. Yet something was wrong with her violin. She looked over to see that the plug wasn't in. It must have fallen out. Helen tried to eye the plug.

Will walked onstage, "Helen, you have to get out of here."

Helen nodded her head and began to run, only to feel a wind push both of them back.

A portal was opened. Claris screamed many obscenities about the curse of her powers, "My powers aren't for your use, you jerk!"

Jackle grabbed Helen then entered the portal then closed it.

That was when everyone began to scream, "he's not a cosplayer?" "Who is this monster?" "Call 911, call the Ghostbusters! Helen has been kidnapped." "Claris has powers?"

Claris made a loud whistle with get two pinky fingers. "Everyone! This will all be sorted out!"

Everyone looked at Claris. There were hundreds of frowns and plenty of scowls. Claris knew there was disappointment; not at the concert being cut short, but at Helen being in danger.

Claris stuttered; this was how she felt during her audition before she met NiGHTS. Yet she couldn't run away like last time. She opened her portal then looked at Will, "Kid, we'll save Helen."

Claris was about to step into the portal until Reala stopped her, "miss, NiGHTS may not be here because you are no longer a child, but I'm here because you're an adult."

"Sush Reala, I was never an adult," Claris teared up, "I'm a friend."

The three stepped into the portal to see what they had to do to save Helen.

***

Lets get this maren.

For she kidnaped a lady fairen.

Together we will save this star,

And hopefully we will get far.

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helen got kidnapped, and there's a bomb in the convention hall! Everybody panic!

The Phantom Nightmaren

Chapter 8

This was scary to the audience.  Helen was taken to the Night Dimension.  Claris, a jester dude, and some soccer playing kid went in for her.  It was scary, for the crowd.

Elliot had to take responsibility.  Elliot stepped onto the stage and picked up a microphone, “don’t panic, Claris has everything under control.”

“What does Claris know?” One boy cried out, “she’s just a playwright!”

Elliot took a deep breath.  He knew telling the truth would tarnish his reputation, but he had to let it out: “Okay, there is something you should know.”

The room went silent.

“When you dream, you go into this world called the Night Dimension.  Most people are unaware of being there.  For Helen, Claris, Will, and I, we were four of the few that were aware of this dimension.”

Natalie rushed to the stage, “wait, wait, wait, Helen told me about this world before.  She wasn’t drunk and made it up?”

“No, Helen was correct.”

“Then, would that make you a world theif?” Natalie asked, “Into Dreams has a fantasy genre.”

“Well, is it world stealing when I write about teenagers on Earth?” Elliot asked. “I think not.”

“So who was Jackle?  Does he live in this dream world?” A boy in the crowd asked.

“Jackle is a Nightmaren, a resident of a very dark part of the world called Nightmare.  According to Claris, Jackle is sort of special.  Jackle can create anything from any space.  It is something that the Nightmare God, Wizeman, isn’t able to do.”

“But why did he take Helen?”

“Helen’s aesthetics in her songs and videos were all ideas of Jackle.  He wanted payback for his help, which happened to be marriage.  Which is why he said that they were fiances.”

That was when everyone screamed, “What sort of ‘Nice Guy Syndrome,’ dude is he?” “He doesn’t deserve any of that!” “Is Helen gone forever?” “Damn, and I thought he was hot!”

That was when the crowd crawled onto the stage.  The crowd was flooding the stage to get intot the portal, it was like a flood.  Elliott and Natalie tried to stop them, but two people could not stop a crowd.  They all went into the portal.  

“Claris, why didn’t you close the portal?” Ellliot mumbled.  

Suddenly, the fire alarm went off.  But there was too much of a ruckus for anyone to cooperate with going outside.  At least until Ian started screaming and panicking, “there’s a bomb in the dressing room!”

Of course, no one heard the news except for Elliot and Natalie.  They both rushed to the dressing room, to see no other than a bomb.  The dressing room had a basic set of mirrors and tables where there were beauty products and outfits scattered.  It wasn’t fancy to say the least, but the corner had a pulled fire alarm.  

Eliot immediately took out his phone and began to dial 911. “Elliot Edwards.  The Anaheim Convention Center.  There is a bomb in the dressing room at Stage B, we have the fire alarm pulled, but I will assure you, this isn’t a prank like last year!”

***

Claris, Reala, and Will began trudging through shallow water.  “Can’t you turn into a boat?” Will asked Reala.

Reala looked around, “I do not do such silly things like NiGHTS does to amuse Visitor children.”

“Can you at least dualize?” Claris asked, “NiGHTS was able to do it with both Elliot and I,” Claris mentioned, “yet of course, Will can fly on his own.”

Will began to float above the water, “yeah, gets me scores in football.”

“Isn’t that cheating?” Claris asked, but disregarded that, “I don’t have powers in the realm, so can we dualize?”

Reala rolled his eyes, “I do not have that sort of power.  I can make balls appear from the sky, but I cannot dualize.”

Claris chuckled, “balls.” Then she tried to look at Will to see if he noticed the innuendo, but he was gone.

“Great! Is he going to fight Jackle alone?  He doesn’t even know to pull the cape off!”

To much of Reala’s embarrassment, he turned into a boat.  Claris hopped on and they sped towards Will.

***

Will flew to the end of the lake dungeon thing where he found Helen alone as she was tied up to a post.  She was in a short white floral dress, that draped down the end of Helen’s legs.  Will drill dashed to Helen in order to untie her.  Will was successful.  Helen began to run, but then looked around the space for a particular item.

“Helen, what are you doing?” Will asked.

“Jackle cannot be defeated by normal methods at this point.” Helen said, “He has the approval of WIzeman for this plan!  The only way to defeat Jackle is if I have my violin.  He hid it!”

Will looked around.  He looked under a bed’s mattress to see a violin case, “here it is!”

“Oh good!” Helen grabbed the case, “Why would a resident of a dream world need a bed?  Is there a sub dream world?”

“You probably know what it’s for,” Will grieved.

Helen scowled at the very thought, then began to open up the case to set up her ability to play that instrument.

That was when Claris and Reala appeared, only to be caught by a net.  Reala turned back into his usual red and black jester self and frowned, “Jackle is too clever for his own good.”

“This wouldn’t be a problem if you could dualize,” Claris mentioned.

“Well I’m not NiGHTS now, am I?”

There was cackling around the walls, “all in a pickle, aren’t you?  Helen can very well defeat me, but the effects of that would be tragic.  Only I can disarm the bomb.”

“BOMB?” Everyone screamed.

“Yes there is a bomb in the Anaheim Convention Center that will blow the building up to smithereens.  It will take the building along with all of the attendants.  Oh, there are plenty of important people in there.  Must be most of the important content creators of the internet that are in that building….”

“Why the Hell would you do that?” Claris screamed out, “Are you insane?”

Jackle cackled, “you have forgotten, have you?” Jackle appeared in black garb, and a white mask, then grabbed Claris, “so Helen, if you don’t pull your end of our deal, all of VidCon could go kaboom!”  Then a card appeared from his hand, “and so would your girl friend.”

Helen played a note from her violin, only to realize: That’s really dangerous.  Helen couldn’t use her violin to ward off this powerful of a Nightmaren.  He won’t be able to disarm the bomb.  

Then there was a crowd of screaming.  Helen could see a bunch of torches and foam weapons from a distance.  Are those the attendee’s of Helen’s concert?

“Jackle must go down!” A guy screamed, as he took out a bow and a foam arrow and began to shoot at Jackle, but with no effect.  

“Claris, did you leave the portal open?” Reala asked disapprovingly.

“I didn’t exactly open it!” Claris screamed out.

Helen closed her eyes.  Looking at all of that disapproval against Jackle made her realize: Did anyone in Nightmare like Jackle?  He seemed alone.  A singular Nightmaren just doing his job, alone.  Helen had also realized that the attendants at VidCon loved Jackle with all of his hijinks and personality.   “Guys, don’t be so disapproving!  You liked Jackle before you knew the truth!”

Holly heard her, “yeah, he is really good at making tea at the Con’s Cafe!” She yelled out!

“And he’s hilarious at Cards Against Humanity,” Erik yelled out, “And he looks really hot.”

Everyone began to say nice things about Jackle, until a woman did note, “but he kidnapped you!”

Helen took a deep breath.  She positioned her violin to her neck and began to play as seh sang,

“Jackle is a lonely maren.  

Too good to be with anyone.  

He had to trick dreamers to stay.

Just didn’t know how to play.  

Jackle is to be feared, but pitied.

But no one should feel so emptied.”

Helen began to play, and everyone cheered and clapped.  Helen stopped playing, then gave Jackle a kiss on the cheek, “Claris has the power to go to other worlds.  You’ll be better liked in the Waking World.”

Jackle pressed a button, “No, the con won’t blow up.  Helen won’t have to marry me! There is too much to like in the Waking World.”

Everyone cheered, then Claris made a portal back to outside of The Anaheim Convention center.

***

Everyone was panicking back at Vidcon.  The bomb dispatcher couldn’t figure out how to dispatch the bomb, since it wasn’t one she’s seen before.  Everyone was safe, as they were outside of the con.  Ian had his guitar and began to sing songs from his Sparklerock Band,

“Jacob is a werewolf, how could I have told?

Jacob is a werewolf! Edward would be so cold."

Helen appeared in front of the crowd, “I’m alright!”

Everyone cheered.

Will appeared in front of the crowd, “I’m alright too.”

There were mutters.  Will wasn’t really considered “famous,” so no one really showed much joy to Will being alright. At least until Will said, “and the bomb is dispatched!”

Everyone cheered!

Elliot and Claris went out of the convention to yell out, “The bomb has been dispatched.” Everyone cheered despite the fact that is was already old news.

***

Will and Helen went to the sushi place on Sunday. When they were both paying for their meals, Will commented, "do you know what's really good? Fish and chips."

Helen hadn't had fish and chips often. Only when she went to the seaside with her mum. Helen hadn't went to the seaside since her mom died. "Yeah, I like soaking that with malt vinegar."

"Me too!" Will exclaimed, "I know a great place in Bellbridge. It isn't as nice as here, but if it's good food and good company, it'll be fun."

Helen smiled, "that'll be great."  It looked like that Helen and Will were now dating.  This was what Helen had wanted for eight years.  It just took some time, and a lot of effort.

***

Jackle the Mantle was quickly becoming viral YouTube on YouTube.  It got to ten thousand subscribers quite quickly, and was almost to twenty thousand subscribers.

“And then, Peach’s Castle went black and bloody, and the camera quickly got closer, and closer to Mario.  Soon enough I know, Lakitu was going after Mario.  I ran as fast as I could, but if I ran too fast, I couldn’t see myself!”

The footage showed a grittier game of Super Mario 64 with Mario being stalked by the game’s own camera.  

At the end of the video, Jackle was shown as he sipped on a cup of tea, “make sure you get here next week when The Divine Musical playwright and actor: Claris Sinclair and I talk about the original reel of Rocky Horror Picture Show that she found at the Waverly Theatre one windy autumn night.  It is quite different from the Rocky we all know and love.”

***

Lucy was typing on Twitter about Helen showing up at The Variety for the first Midnight Showing of ‘The Divine Opera: The Inferno’ in Europe.  Helen could sell her new album, as well as get more subscribers to her channel. “Will be showing up at The Variety in Bellbridge for their midnight showing of The Divine Opera: Inferno, hope to see you there. #DivineOpera”   

Helen looked on her phone, to see that Jackle replied, “I’ll be there to see the real Georgia Jeannie! @HelenCartwright @ClaristheDevil #DivineOpera”

Helen put her phone back in her purse and got back to work sorting vinyls.  Helen was satisfied now that she was more well known due to that whole debacle.  Helen still had to work at the Vinyl shop to make a living, but she was happy.  Life may have taken a landslide, but it got it’s way back upwards.  The VidCon Ghost really existed, but everyone very well knew that.

***

I went across to California,

To meet a creepy guy

He needed marriage, I don’t wanna

It made me want to cry.

But I met a two guys,

I met a gal,

And we bursted through his lies.

And now he’s a really good pal!

**  
  
**


End file.
